For What It's Worth: Winter War Convention 37

This last weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to spend time with friends and family at the gaming convention called Winter War. It has been going on for 37 years now, and it has come along way from the rough and tumble con that was held in the Foreign Languages Building on the U of I campus. Currently it is held in the Hawthorne Suites in Champaign, IL. and it is a terrifically run convention. Granted, it is not a huge convention, with only about 300 people attending, but it is one of the best. The goal of the convention organizers is to allow people to play games, and it succeeds in that exceedingly well. There is a smattering of dealers, enough to handle your desires, should you find yourself absolutely needing the game you just played. They have a incredible auction of used games that you can get just about anything at a terrific price, but what they do best, is offer a huge number of various games that you can sign up for and play all weekend long. It is a gamers game convention. Unlike the bigger ones, you will not find a library of games to play or test, but you will find those games that really hold a place in the hearts of the gamers that come every year. Unfortunately, that can make the con a bit harder to enjoy for the casual gamers, like my wife, but I think that things are changing and more and more people are bringing more "user-friendly" games to the con for people to play. (Not that she doesn't enjoy it!)
But what I really found this weekend, was that the con is not so much a time to play games or check out something that interests me, it is more of a chance to reconnect with those people I dont' see enough of, or face off against the people I only see at the con, across the field of battle called the gaming table. My kids are now part of this con. My son is familiar with many of the people at the con, and my daugther is eagerly embracing the whole gamer girl persona. (Hopefully without the bad hair, awkward social behavior, and poor clothing choices.) It is a time to socialize while competeing with other gamer friends, and make connections that, oddly, have helped me in my non-gaming world. What are games when you take the competition element out of them? They are a simply reason to get together and socialize. Some people claim that gamers are non-social creatures, but I disagree. They are very social. How else can a real gamer who is not social, ever manage to bring themself to interact with total strangers for an entire weekend? I hold, that those people that don't socialize well in groups, but yet are gamers and somehow have been held up as the model for gamers, are probably not social in general, gamer or not. But, I digress...
The weekend was great, I had a great time with my family, (although I would like it to have some of those games my wife enjoys more) and I made some new friends, reconnected with old ones, and strengthened the bond with current friends. Maybe that is why I like gaming so much. I am a very social creature and I love to play games.
Anyway, I ramble on. I have provided some photos from the con for you to enjoy.

This is the opening move (albeit blurry) of the game Circus Maximus, a chariot racing game. As you can see, it is quite crowded and the end result is abstract bloodshed!

Here I am, late at night with two of my favorite gaming partners! We were playing Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game.

The game Battlestar Galactica is one of the best games I have ever encountered. It looks complicated, and maybe at first it is, but it makes for one of the best unintentional role playing board games ever! Ask me later what that means.

Just one of the massive miniature games going on at the convention. This one represented the D-Day landings of June 1944. The game started at 9am and finished sometime after 8pm.